Will You Find Me On The Corner?

Long known as the “world’s oldest profession,” sex work has existed in every human society, even taking up a substantial amount of space in the Bible. While the practice has existed for millennia, the varying degrees of acceptance, comfort, and stigma have reflected the different social climates of the societies in which it is found. Along with its existence sex work has always generated a substantial amount of controversy. There have been religious criticisms, health concerns, legal inconsistencies, and implications on women’s rights and legal status.

As diverse as the opinions on sex work are, the solutions to the issues that surround the industry are as equally diverse. In order to explore the question of what the appropriate legal status of sex work should be our project attempted to investigate several different positions on the subject. Some people feel prostitution should be a woman’s choice and that the profession should be regulated. On the opposite end of the spectrum there is a growing number of people who feel the opposite, that in fact prostitution marginalizes women preventing them from becoming independent and equal in the terms of gender and call for a complete end to the sex trade. Beyond this there are debates about the ways that health, and safety, as well as social stigma would be affected depending on the legal status of sex work.

Our project seeks to explore the following areas related to the potential outcome of changes to the legal status of sex workers in the United States.